Yesterday I posted about the latest Republican tactic in the U.S. Senate race here in NC (playing a lame ‘evil atheism’ card on Kay Hagan) as Elizabeth Dole sinks in the polls. I said:
so the best that the National Republican Senatorial Committee can do at this point is to go after the one group probably more reviled than teh gayz in the mind of the wingnuts - atheists.
Well lo and behold…here comes the homostrawman, courtesy of the NC Republican Party. (PageOneQ):
A new mailer in support of incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole claims that Hagan’s agenda, with the help of “liberal judges,” will be to advance a “radical homosexual agenda” which includes same-sex marriage, removing “Under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance, and forcing the Boy Scouts to accept gay and atheist troop leaders.
Hagan’s opposition to an anti-gay amendment is the focus of the mailer. “Across America,” it reads, “liberal judges are overturning state laws banning gay marriage. In North Carolina a state constitutional amendment is needed to protect traditional marriage and prevent liberal judges from imposing their gay marriage agenda on the state.”
I’d hardly call Hagan liberal, but hey - I’m surprised the sophisticated fossils at the NCRP didn’t find a way to throw in “socialist”.
I laughed at all of this because as you might recall, I was dissed by the Hagan campaign for simply asking how she’d vote on pending legislation re: LGBT issues. There was no need to worry about hiding from the questions because I knew the GOP was going to eventually bring it up anyway—you might as well be on the right side of the issues—and the community you will eventually ask for $upport from. Sen. Hagan’s liveblog response back in April:
Pam - I’m close to John Edwards on this - I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and that it’s fundamentally a state issue the federal government has no business getting involved in. But I take a back seat to no one when it comes to equal opportunity and fairness. I oppose ANY form of discrimination and I believe that partnerships should be protected when it comes to financial issues, hospital visits, employment, and housing issues.
We don’t have an amendment because our General Assembly is Dem-controlled, not because Kay Hagan supports marriage equality. But facts, even if they are disappointing for us, don’t matter to the North Carolina GOP - they have a lousy candidate with a crap record who’s doing poorly in the polls.
More below the fold. A reader’s friend shares an exchange with Dole’s office about this mailer.